Many industries are now leveraging business process outsourcing services to maximize their efficiency without increasing costs
More organizations around the globe are using Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies than ever before. Currently, the industry’s market size is valued at USD $232 billion, up from about USD $56 billion in 2018, and expects to experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.5 percent between 2021 and 2028.
The result is a global market size of nearly USD $486 billion for BPO service providers by 2028.
BPO services can improve organization, decrease operating costs, and emphasize core competencies, which is why businesses are going in this direction.
Key takeaways:
BPO firms are increasing in popularity.
Many industries are using these services.
Offshoring certain jobs allow businesses to focus on core competencies.
Here's a look at 10 industries that are using BPO companies to maximize their potential.
1. Accounting
Accounting departments are taking full advantage of BPO services by outsourcing many day-to-day financial jobs. These include accounts payable, billing services, auditing, regulatory compliance, receivables, and general accounting.
The benefit is that rather than using members of a full-time accounting staff to take care of these jobs, the organization can hire fewer full-time employees while passing repetitive work to a BPO firm.
2. Legal
An increasing number of legal firms are using BPO companies. This practice is called Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO), where the company or law firm might pass on lower-level legal transcription work to a BPO company. However, LPO firms are also taking on high-level work, including completing legal research, drafting patent applications, and providing legal advice.
Of course, the reason for using LPO services is that it’s far less expensive than keeping a lawyer in-house or on retainer. At the same time, legal firms might use this service because they can save on the cost of a full-time paralegal and reduce the time it takes to conduct legal research themselves.
3. Real estate management
Property managers, construction contractors, and real estate developers use BPO service providers to handle real estate analytics, including fee analysis and benchmarking. They’re also using these services to help with jobs like lease abstraction, accounting, and administration.
Real estate professionals can benefit from using BPO firms because they take work off their plates. Rather than retaining a local firm or hiring a full-time employee to handle these jobs, real estate agents and property managers can outsource the work and save money.
4. Mortgages
There is a lot of work associated with being a mortgage officer and lenders are now passing some of these jobs off to BPO firms. For example, approving a loan involves:
Processing the documents
Making all sorts of verifications
Underwriting the agreement
Handling the closing process
Using a BPO provider is advantageous for lenders because they can effectively automate many of these jobs, ensuring they don’t end up bogged down with time-consuming work like document processing. Outsourcing these jobs helps lenders stay within their deadlines without ending up overworked during hectic periods.
5. Human resources
Human resources departments have a lot on their plates, which is why they’re using BPO services at increasing levels. Hiring a BPO firm assists with jobs like payroll, 401k administration, hiring, recruitment, workforce training, and insurance processing without utilizing more full-time workers to handle the demand.
Another great benefit of using BPO services for human resources is that it provides access to specialized resources. So, if a firm doesn’t have a 401k expert on staff, it’s possible to offshore its administration.
6. Information technology
Many businesses have information technology (IT) departments, but the threat of cyberattacks increases every year, and protecting business infrastructure takes a lot of effort. These teams also implement the necessary services on your network and are responsible for application development and data entry.
Using a BPO company means the in-house department doesn’t have to develop and test the company’s app or spend time answering questions through an IT helpdesk. The gist is that companies are outsourcing some IT jobs to free their on-site workers up for other jobs.
7. Food services
With take-out ordering becoming the norm during the COVID-19 pandemic, the food service industry relies more on phone and online orders than it did before. These services take full-time employees away from what they should be doing: making the food.
Outsourcing some of the order procurement process to call centers and online ordering agencies ensures that there’s always someone available to answer the phone, helping restaurants maximize their efficiency and profits.
8. Customer service
Online and phone ordering aren’t solely for the food services industry, either, as all types of retail businesses accept these orders and allow for curbside pickup. They also usually have someone available to answer questions via email, social media, and telephone.
By outsourcing the order procurement process to BPO service providers, these companies don’t have to keep a full-time employee sitting by the phone to answer it. The result is greater efficiency and cost savings for these businesses.
9. Back-office transactions
Businesses of all types have back-office workers who handle jobs, like check and debit card processing, transportation administration, warehouse management, logistics, and dispatch. There’s a lot of work involved for these employees, leading to them getting bogged down by the day-to-day.
BPO companies can handle many of these jobs, maximizing in-office efficiency and ensuring that full-time employees aren’t overworked.
10. Healthcare
The healthcare industry has a lot of non-core work that is commonly outsourced to BPO firms. These jobs include medical coding, billing, claims processing, and data entry services.
The gist is that outsourcing these jobs helps healthcare entities focus on core competencies because they’re no longer focused on administrative work. The result is a more efficient office for healthcare professionals and patients alike.
The advantages of the BPO industry
Overall, BPO firms offer cost savings, access to specialized resources, and increased efficiency in dozens of different industries. They also allow full-time employees to focus on core areas because the BPO company will handle many day-to-to tasks that take workers away from more important jobs.
DOXA helps small and medium-sized businesses secure the services they need to build high-performing teams and compete with large corporations. We help companies find the right talent to fill roles within the organization, assisting as you reach your goals. Be sure to contact us for a free consultation or to begin interviewing candidates.
